Recent Winter Storms Put Small Dent In Southwest Colorado Drought

DENVER (CBS4) - There's some good news coming out of southwest Colorado thanks to a recent parade of winter storms. Heavy mountain snow has put a small dent in the extreme and exceptional drought conditions.

While we're not anywhere close to being out of the woods just yet this small improvement does provide hope that the storm track will remain active as we move into spring. March and April are known for delivering soggy storm systems to the central Rockies.

Southwest Colorado started experiencing abnormally dry conditions during the last half of 2017. Drought conditions rapidly expanded during 2018.

Drought is a frequent visitor to a state like Colorado which is located hundreds of miles away from the nearest sources of water. We depend on the jet stream to bring consistent storms that provide both rain and snow. When the jet stream is absent drought often develops on a regional or statewide scale.